ESD protection clamp for mixed voltage I/O stages using NMOS transistors

ABSTRACT

An electrostatic discharge protection device for protecting a mixed voltage integrated circuit against damage is provided which includes at least one pair of NMOS transistors connected in a cascode configuration. Each NMOS transistor pair includes a first transistor, having a drain region coupled to an I/O stage of the mixed voltage integrated circuit, and a gate region coupled to the mixed voltage integrated circuit&#39;s low power supply. The protection device also includes a second NMOS transistor, merged into the same active area as the first transistor, having a gate region and source region coupled to the ground plane of the mixed voltage integrated circuit. The drain region of the second transistor and the source region of the first transistor is constructed by a shared NMOS diffusion region. This shared diffusion region also constructs the common node coupling the source region of the first transistor to the drain region of the second. The shared diffusion area is a further benefit of the invention because its length controls the trigger voltage and the holding voltage of each cascode configured transistor pair. This electrostatic discharge protection device can be used either as a self protecting pull-down portion of a mixed voltage I/O stage or, in a further aspect of the present invention, as a separate electrostatic discharge clamp.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/555,463 filed on Nov.13, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,897.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to integrated circuits and morespecifically to electrostatic discharge protection of mixed voltageintegrated circuits (IC's).

As it is known in the art, integrated circuits, and hence computersystems, were historically designed to operate with a 5 volt powersupply. However, the rise of the laptop computer, the hand held videogame, and the portable telephone markets obviated the need for increasedperformance and decreased power consumption. The integrated circuitdesigners were able to meet these challenges by reducing the geometry ofthe transistors which make up the integrated circuits used in the abovementioned industries. Since a transistor's physical size limits thevoltage that the device can withstand before being damaged, the smallergeometry transistors were not capable of surviving the 5 volt signallevels. As a result, lower voltage standards were introduced.

The lower voltage standards were not immediately required in all facetsof the electronic industry and therefore were not fully adopted. Asengineers migrated to using the new standards, devices designed for usewith the old standards were frequently interconnected in the same designwith those designed for the new standards. Because of these mixedstandard systems, integrated circuit designers needed to ensure thatdevices manufactured to the new, lower voltage standards would not beadversely harmed if used in 5 volt applications. These voltage tolerantdevices are referred to as mixed voltage IC's.

One of the main problems with integrated circuits has been their extremesensitivity to electrostatic discharge. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) isa high voltage electric pulse of extremely short duration which isusually caused by static electricity. When a transistor experiences avoltage of this magnitude, the oxide within the transistor breaks downand the device is damaged. Consequently, the input/output (I/O) pads ofa mixed voltage integrated circuit need to be protected such that theESD voltage shock does not reach, nor destroy, their oxide layers.

There are two types of mixed voltage IC's which employ different methodsof normal operating mode protection. These two types present differentchallenges in protecting against electrostatic discharge. In the firsttype of mixed voltage IC, the core logic area operates at one voltagelevel while the I/O area operates at a different, usually higher,voltage. This type of IC is provided with two power supplies i.e. a lowpower supply for the core logic area and a high power supply for the I/Oarea. In the second type of mixed voltage IC, only a low power supply isprovided and the external I/O area is designed to be tolerant of, andprotected from, high level signals. It is this latter case whichpresents the most difficulty for providing robust ESD protection as willbe shown below.

A common form of ESD protection is the use of a pair of diodes. Twodiodes are formed at the I/O pad where one is connected to ground andthe other to the supply voltage. The anode of a first diode is connectedto the I/O pad while the cathode is connected to the supply voltage. Thecathode of a second diode is connected to the same I/O pad while itsanode is connected to ground. During an ESD event, when the voltage onthe I/O pad reaches a value higher than the supply voltage or lower thanground level, the corresponding diode conducts. In this circumstance,the conducting diode shunts the current either to the supply voltageplane or to the ground plane to protect the transistors of the I/Odriver.

The problem with using this configuration in a mixed voltage integratedcircuit having only a low power supply is that during normal operation,when the voltage at the I/O pad rises to the high level, the diode willconduct and clamp the pad to the low power supply voltage. In thissituation, the high level signal and the low level power supply areessentially shorted together which is unacceptable because the highlevel signal will be prevented from reaching its proper voltage. If thehigh level signal does not reach its appropriate voltage level,functional or timing errors could occur in integrated circuits coupledto the mixed voltage IC. Accordingly, this form of ESD protection is notacceptable for mixed voltage I/O pads.

Another common ESD protection strategy is to provide a single NMOStransistor pulldown to ground for each I/O driver. This transistor isdesigned to safely protect the driver by shunting the ESD current toelectrical ground by operating in a low impedance mode called snap-back.However, in advanced CMOS processes, thin gate oxides and short channellengths preclude the use of a single NMOS pulldown transistor in the I/Odriver due to normal operation reliability phenomena such as hotcarriers and time dependent dielectric breakdown. In these phenomena astrong field, generated from a high level power supply, across the shortchannel and thin oxide unacceptably degrades the NMOS pulldowntransistor over its lifetime.

To avoid the single pulldown transistor problem described above, the I/Odriver pulldown in mixed voltage CMOS processes is typically designed asa cascode configuration of two distinct and independently disposed NMOStransistors which serve as a mechanism to reduce the field strengthacross the channel and the oxide during normal operation. The cascodeconfiguration is created by connecting a common node between the sourceof a first transistor and the drain of a second. The gate of the firsttransistor is tied to the supply voltage while the gate and source ofthe second transistor are tied to ground. The I/O pad and the pull-upportion of the I/O driver are connected to the drain of the firsttransistor. In normal mixed signal operating modes, the protectionoccurs because the voltage at the common node is limited to the supplyvoltage minus the threshold voltage of the transistor. Because of thisvoltage limitation, voltages across the oxides and channels of bothdevices are limited to safe levels.

Although this configuration limits voltages to safe levels in normaloperating modes, it is inadequate for ESD protection because thetransistors are laid-out as separate and distinct devices. During an ESDevent, snap-back must occur in both of the transistors before thecurrent can be shunted to ground. Since snap-back for two independentdevices results in a much higher voltage being presented to the driver,this can both exceed the dielectric breakdown of the oxide and increasethe power density at the drain junction. Both situations areunacceptable since they can result in damage to the integrated circuit.

Furthermore, in this cascode arrangement, in order to tailor the circuitto have a sufficiently high trigger voltage and low holding voltage, thechannel length of each device must be increased separately. Increasingthe channel length of each device has the undesired effects ofincreasing capacitance, reducing the drive strength, and increasing thechannel leakage current of the driver.

A protection device is needed which is acceptable for use in a mixedvoltage integrated circuit during normal operating modes as well asduring ESD events.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, an electrostatic dischargeprotection device for protecting a mixed voltage integrated circuitagainst damage includes at least one pair of NMOS transistors connectedin a cascode configuration. Each NMOS transistor pair includes a firsttransistor, having a drain region coupled to an I/O stage of the mixedvoltage integrated circuit, and a gate region coupled to the mixedvoltage integrated circuit's low power supply.

The protection device also includes a second NMOS transistor, mergedinto the same active area as the first transistor, having a gate regionand source region coupled to the ground plane of the mixed voltageintegrated circuit. The drain region of the second transistor and thesource region of the first transistor is constructed by a shared NMOSdiffusion region. This shared diffusion region also constructs thecommon node coupling the source region of the first transistor to thedrain region of the second.

The shared diffusion area is a further benefit of the invention becauseits length controls the trigger voltage and the holding voltage of eachcascode configured transistor pair.

This electrostatic discharge protection device can be used either as aself protecting pull-down portion of a mixed voltage I/O stage or, in afurther aspect of the present invention, as a separate electrostaticdischarge clamp. In addition, a further advantage of this arrangement isthat the length of the shared diffusion region of the two transistorsmay be altered to tailor both the trigger voltage and the holdingvoltage of both of the transistors in the cascode configured pair.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method forprotecting a mixed voltage integrated circuit from damage caused byelectrostatic discharge includes the steps of disposing at least onepair of cascode configured NMOS transistors in the same active area in amixed voltage integrated circuit, and constructing a shared diffusionregion which constructs the drain region of the first transistor and thesource region of the second transistor of each pair as well as coupleseach pair of transistors.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a layoutof a cascode electrostatic discharge protection device includes anactive area constructed of diffused PMOS material, and at least onecascode configuration of NMOS transistors. In each pair of transistors,two polysilicon regions construct the gate regions of the NMOStransistors. A first NMOS region is disposed in the active area toconstruct the drain of the first NMOS transistor. Likewise, a secondNMOS region constructs the source of the first NMOS transistor as wellas the drain of the second NMOS transistor. The source of the secondNMOS transistor is then constructed by a third NMOS region, alsodisposed in the same active area.

With such an arrangement, a protection device is provided that isacceptable for use in a mixed voltage IC during normal operating modesas well as during ESD events.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing features of this invention, as well as the inventionitself, may be more fully understood from the following detaileddescription when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a computer system in which the presentinvention may be applied;

FIG. 2 depicts an electrostatic discharge protection circuit coupled toa mixed voltage integrated circuit's input/output (I/O) pad;

FIG. 3 depicts a plurality of parallel cascode configured transistorswhich may be coupled to the I/O pad of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts the electrostatic discharge protection device of FIG. 2employed as the pull-down stage of an I/O driver;

FIG. 5 depicts the depletion regions surrounding the drain and is sourcein a cross section view of an NMOS transistor comprising theelectrostatic discharge protection circuit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 depicts the state of the depletion regions surrounding the drainand source in a cross section view of an NMOS transistor comprising theelectrostatic discharge protection circuit of FIG. 2 when Punch-throughoccurs;

FIG. 7 depicts a cross-section view of the electrostatic dischargeprotection device when both NMOS transistors are in snap-back and theESD current is being shunted to ground;

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting drain current versus the drain-to-sourcevoltage of the NMOS transistor of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 depicts the current versus voltage curve of the NMOS transistorof FIG. 5 superimposed over the operating curve of a device to beprotected from electrostatic discharge;

FIG. 10 depicts a top, or layout, view of the cascode configured NMOSprotection transistors of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 11 depicts a top view of a plurality of cascode configured NMOSprotection transistors connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 3,disposed in a mixed voltage integrated circuit.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 1 is shown to include a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 2, a memory system 3, and an input/output (I/O)system 4, interconnected by a system bus 5. Each portion of the computersystem 1 further comprises many coupled integrated circuits 6a, 6b, 6c,some of which run on a 5 volt power supply level and some of which runon lower voltage power supply levels. The present invention protectseach of these integrated circuits from electrostatic discharge damage insuch a way that does not hamper its normal operation.

Referring to FIG. 2, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device10 is shown coupled to a mixed voltage integrated circuit's 6input/output (I/O) pad 11. During the occurrence of an ESD event, thecircuitry 12 coupled to the I/O pad 12 will be protected against damagebased on the ability of the protection device 10 to limit voltage andshunt current to electrical ground 14.

The ESD protection device is based on a cascode configuration of NMOStransistors whose common nodes are formed by a shared diffusion 18. Byshared diffusion it is meant that the same diffusion of NMOS materialconstructing the source region 20 of the first transistor 22 alsoconstructs the drain region 24 of the second transistor 26. Thearrangement of the present invention is in contrast to the usual layoutof a cascode structure where the transistors are laid-out as distinctdevices or, in the case of a multifingered device, where the devices aremerged into the same active area and only one finger shares the commondiffusion.

The cascode configuration of the present invention is superior to thatof the prior art in part because of its inherent flexibility. Thecascode configuration with shared diffusions can be used as a selfprotecting pulldown stage of a mixed voltage I/O driver, or as aseparate ESD voltage protection clamp. The device is laid-out having ashared diffusion 18 which includes a common node constructing both thesource 20 of a first NMOS transistor (NMOST) 22 and the drain 24 of asecond transistor 26. Both transistors are merged into the same activearea. The gate 28 of the first NMOST is tied to the low supply voltage(Vdd) while the gate 30 and source 32 of the second NMOST are tied toground 14. The I/O pad 12 and pull-up portion of the I/O driver areconnected to the drain 34 of the first transistor 22.

A person having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that thenumber of cascode configured transistors 10 is not limited to a singlepair such as depicted in FIG. 2. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, an ESDprotection device 46 is shown to include a plurality of cascodeconfigured NMOS transistor pairs 44a-44x sharing a common active area,and connected in parallel. Although only three pairs of transistors,44a, 44b, and 44x, are shown, it should be understood that the number ofcascode pairs are design dependent. That is, the number of parallelcascode configurations depends upon the amount of current that each pairof NMOS transistors can carry and the maximum current that the devicesare likely to experience during normal operation and electrostaticdischarge.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the cascode configured device 10 is protectedduring normal operation because the voltage at each shared diffusion 18is limited to the supply voltage (Vdd) minus the threshold voltage ofthe NMOS transistor. Because of this limitation, voltages across theoxides and channels of each part of the device are restricted to safelevels during normal operation while, during an ESD event, the cascodeconfiguration provides a path for the ESD current to reach electricalground 14. By shunting the ESD current to ground 14 via transistors 22and 26, an I/O driver stage connected to the drain 34 of NMOST device 22is protected from damaging voltage and current levels. Referring now toFIG. 4, an I/O driver stage 48 is shown having a pull-up stage 48acoupled to the cascode configured NMOS transistor device 48b of thepresent invention. The cascode NMOST device is used as the pulldownstage of the driver, thus constructing a self protecting I/O drivercircuit.

When the protection device is used as a separate ESD clamp, as shown inFIG. 2, its robustness can be increased by blocking both silicide andLDD. The salicide process reduces propagation delay in transistors bydepositing metal on top of an existing transistor. LDD involves dopingthe drain region closest to the channel lighter than the rest of thearea. The result is a less abrupt, or more graded, junction between thedrain and channel regions. After the salicide process is complete thepropagation time between devices is thereafter determined by thecharacteristics of the metal used, while the properties of thetransistor itself are determined by the polysilicon gate'scharacteristics. The problem with the salicide process is that itproduces a non-uniform thickness of metal and hence a non-uniformresistance along the drain and source areas of the device. Current flowsunevenly through this non-uniform resistance producing a hot spot wherethe current flow is the strongest. As the temperature of the hot spotincreases, the current flow also increases. These related effectsdevelop into a self supporting loop referred to as thermal runaway.Thermal runaway occurs when most of the current flows through the hotspot, raising its temperature enough to melt metal in the immediatearea. Therefore if a metal contact is placed too close to the hot spot,it will melt and damage the device. Accordingly, to overcome thisproblem in the current invention the silicide is preferably blocked frombeing deposited over certain sections of the drain and source. As aresult, the contacts are pushed farther from the gate and farther fromthe hot spot. A greater degree of heat is then required for the contactsto reach the melting point. By blocking the silicide and LDD, the ESDprotection device is more reliable and less likely to become damagedduring an ESD event.

In each of the NMOST cascode configurations of FIGS. 2, 3, and 4,snap-back must occur in the device before the ESD current can be shuntedto ground. The term snap-back refers to an operating region of MOStransistors. Referring now to FIG. 5 a cross section view of an NMOStransistor 50 used in the present invention is shown. The NMOStransistor 50 comprises a gate region 52, a source region 54 and a drainregion 56 coupled to a PMOS region 58.

To understand the phenomena of snap-back, first consider that the gate52 and source 54 regions of the NMOST 50 are coupled to ground 14 andthat a voltage source is coupled to the drain region 56. Initially, thisconfiguration will not conduct current from drain-to-source becausethere is no forward biased threshold voltage imposed across thegate-to-source junction 60. As the voltage coupled to the drain 56 isincreased, a field 62 is built up in the PMOS region 58 around the drain56 and source 54. This is called the depletion region 62, and itincreases proportionately with the increasing voltage on the drain 56.

Referring now to FIG. 6 an NMOS transistor 50, similar to that of FIG.5, along with associated source and drain depletion regions 62 areshown. In the NMOST 50 of FIG. 6, it can be seen that the depletionregions 62 of the source 54 and drain 56 are merged. Such an eventoccurs in the following manner. When the drain voltage reaches a certainvalue, referred to as the trigger voltage, the two depletion regions 62intersect with each other. This action, called Punch-through, allows asmall number of electrons 66 to pass from source 54 to drain 56 throughthe PMOS region 58. The action of the electron 66 jumping into the NMOSdrain region 56 causes a collision with the silicon lattice known asimpact ionization. During impact ionization, an electron is disengagedfrom its covalent bond and generates a space referred to as a hole 68.The hole 68, following the closest path 70 to a lower potential, passesthrough the PMOS region 58 and into electrical ground 14. Because thereis resistance in the PMOS substrate 58, the current generated by themigrating hole gives rise to a voltage 72. As the depletion regions 62grow in strength, more electrons 66 pass from source 54 to drain 58causing more holes 68 to pass through the substrate 58.

When the voltage 72 exceeds the turn-on voltage of a diode 74, formed bythe junction of the NMOS material of the drain region 56 and the PMOSmaterial 58 of the active region, it conducts. Once the diode 74 turnson, a larger hole current 70 will flow directly from the drain 56through the substrate 58 and a larger electron current will flow fromsource 54 to drain 56. It should be noted that this flow of electrons 66is not normal channel conduction but rather, happens below the channel.Once the current flow 70 is started, it will sustain the forward biasvoltage 72 on the diode 74 and only a very small depletion region 62will be necessary to allow the current to remain flowing. This operatingregion is referred to as snap-back and is used by the device 10 toprovide ESD protection.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a cross section view 80 of the cascodeconfigured NMOST device 10 of the present invention is depicted. Theshared diffusion area 18 constructs the source 20 of a first transistor22 and the drain 24 of a second transistor 26. Once both transistorsenter the snap-back region of operation, a low impedance path 81 fromthe I/O pad to electrical ground is formed. ESD current is shunted toground along this path 81, and the associated device is protected fromdamage.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a graph is shown depicting the drain current 84versus the drain-to-source voltage 86 of the type of NMOS transistorused in the preferred embodiments. During an ESD event, thedrain-to-source voltage 86 will increase very rapidly until it reachesthe trigger voltage 88. At this point the transistor will experiencepunch-through 90, and will clamp the drain-to-source voltage 86, andhence the coupled I/O driver, to the lower holding voltage 92.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the current versus voltage curve 94 of apunch-through device is superimposed over the operating curve 96 of atransistor to be protected from an ESD event. Because an ESD eventoccurs very quickly, the amount of time that the punch-throughtransistor takes to reach the trigger voltage 88, and then to clamp atthe holding voltage 92, is very small when compared to the time it wouldtake the same voltage to destroy the transistor's oxide layer.Therefore, no destruction occurs before the protection circuit clampsthe I/O pad to the holding voltage 88. The curves depicted in FIG. 9show that when the transistor clamps the I/O stage to the holdingvoltage 92, the I/O transistor is at an acceptable level of draincurrent 84. Therefore no damage to the I/O stage will occur.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a top view of the layout 100 of the cascodeconfigured ESD protection transistors is depicted. The transistors arefabricated as a single device in the same active area 102. The commonnode which joins the two transistors is a shared diffusion 104 whichconstructs the source 106 of one transistor and the drain 108 ofanother. A critical feature of the ESD protection device is that thebipolar base width 110 of the equivalent transistor, which determinesthe trigger voltage 88 and holding voltage 92, is defined by thedistance between the top 120 and bottom 122 diffusions. Changing thiscritical distance 110, by changing the length of the shared diffusion104 when the device is laid-out, tailors the trigger voltage 88 andholding voltage 92 to the required values. This is a benefit over havingto increase the channel length of each device separately, which isrequired when the transistors are fabricated as independent devices.Increasing the length of the shared diffusion 104 has the benefits ofnot increasing the capacitance, not reducing the drive strength, and notincreasing the channel leakage current of the driver. In this beneficialmanner, the ESD protection circuit can be tailored to the specific I/Odriver by making the trigger voltage sufficiently large so that thedevices will not punch-through and enter the snap-back region duringnormal operation.

Referring now to FIG. 11, the layout 120 of a parallel connection ofthree cascode configurations is depicted. When more than one pair ofcascode configured transistors are used, they are interleaved ratherthan simply having one finger share the common diffusion. In such aconfiguration each pair of NMOS transistors will experience a percentageof the total ESD current flowing through the structure to ground. Itwill be appreciated by one with ordinary skill in the art thatincreasing the number of cascode configurations will proportionatelyreduce the amount of current flowing through each pair of transistors.Therefore, the number of transistors to be used is unlimited by thismethod of ESD protection.

Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will nowbecome apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that otherembodiments incorporating its concepts may be used. It is felt,therefore, that this embodiment should not be limited to the disclosedembodiment, but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for protecting a mixed voltageintegrated circuit from damage caused by electrostatic discharge, saidmethod comprising the steps of:disposing at least one pair of cascodeconfigured NMOS transistors in a mixed voltage integrated circuitwherein each pair of said NMOS transistors are merged into the sameactive area; constructing a shared diffusion region to couple each pairof said NMOS transistors, said shared diffusion region constructing adrain region of a first transistor of said pair of NMOS transistors anda source region of a second transistor of said pair of NMOS transistors.2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:regulating thetrigger voltage level and holding voltage level of said NMOS transistorsby changing the length of said shared diffusion.
 3. The method of claim2 further comprising the step of:coupling said cascode configuration ofNMOS transistors to an input stage of said mixed voltage integratedcircuit.
 4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the stepof:coupling said cascode configuration of NMOS transistors to an outputstage of said mixed voltage integrated circuit.
 5. The method of claim 2further comprising the step of:coupling said cascode configuration ofNMOS transistors to an input/output stage of said mixed voltageintegrated circuit.